The College News
VOL. XXIII, No. 9
BRYN MAWR AND WAYNE, PA., WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1936
Copyright BRYN MAWR
COLLEGE NEWS. 1936
PRICE 10 CENTS
Mayan Civilization
Was Most Brilliant
Of Early Americans
Sylvanus Morley Shows Slides
In Lecture on Recent
Excavations
SPANIARDS DESTROYED
NEW EMPIRE IN 1519
Goodliart Hall, December 2.�The
early Mayans of Yucatan and Gua-
temala formed the most brilliant
aboriginal race in America, Mr. Syl-
vanus Morley said in his talk on New
Mayan Excavations. Mr. Morley is a
world authority on the Mayan civili-
zation and has done extensive field
work in Central America. His talk
was illustrated by lantern slides.
At as early a date as the beginning
of Christianity, the Mayan inhabited
Guatemala, British Honduras and
southern Mexico. In the eighth and
ninth centuries, owing to the fail-
ure of the agricultural system to
sustain the population, there was a
alow exodus from this region into
Yucatan. The people who settled
here formed the "New Empire" as
distinct from the "Early Empire" in
Guatemala and Honduras. The "New
Empire" was broken up by the arrival
of the Spaniards in 1519, and for
several centuries the country was un-
der Spanish rule. After a series of
revolts, it at last became an indepen-
dent state. The Indian inhabitants
of today are the direct descendents of
the early Mayans and show many of
the same characteristics.
Mayan ruins are found scattered
throughout the thick Guatemalan and
Yucatan jungles, which are penetrated
only by intrepid chewing-gum makers.
It is literally true that Central
American archaeology follows the
gum trade. One of the most import-
ant sites is Copan in Honduras, where
one-third of the hieroglyphs known to
date were discovered. Copan has the
largest archaeological cross-section in
the world. It stood on a river which,
after the abandonment of the city in
the eighth or ninth century, changed
its course, leaving the successive
levels of the city open to the arch-
aeologist.
At Uxmal, an important town of
the New Mayan Empire, stands the
finest building ever erected by Ameri-
can Indians. Called the "Governor's
House," it is 312 feet in length and
surmounts three terraces, the bottom
one of which covers five acres. The
facade is divided into two parts by a
medial cornice, and the upper half,
Continued on Page Four
COLLEGE CALENDAR
Thursday, December 10. �
Mrs. Manning's and Mrs. Cren-
shaw's reception for the fresh-
men to meet Mrs. Gilbreth.
Deanery, 7.30� p. m.
Saturday, December It. �
Dancing Club Christmas page-
ant. Gymnasium, 7.30 p. in.
Sunday, December IS. � Dr.
Alfred Salmony will speak on
The Ancient Art of Siberia and
Its Influence in Chinese and Eu-
ropean Art. Deanery, 5 p. m.
Christmas Carol Service. The
Reverend Andrew Mutch will
conduct the service. Goodhart,
8 p. m.
Monday, December U.�Inter-
national Club Meeting. Miss
Robbins will speak on The Crisis
m England. Common Room,
7.30 p. m.
Tuesday, December 15. �
League Party for the children of
the Summer Camp. Common
Room, 4 p. iu.
German Club Nativity play.
Deanery, 8 p. m.
Maids' Christmas Carols. 8
p. m.
Wednesday, December 16.�
Industrial Group Meeting. Mr.
Warner Clark will speak on
Consumer Cooperatives. Com-
mon Room, 1 p. m.
Dr. Thomas Reed Powell will
speak on The Constitutional
Problems of Roosevelt's Second
Term. Taylor, Room F, 2 p. m.
The maids' and porters' an-
nual dance. Gymnasium, 9 p. m.
Friday, December 18.�Christ-
mas Vacation begins. 12.45 p.m.
Monday, January 4.�Christ-
mas Vacation ends. 9 a. m.
Loose Organization
Is Cause of Strike
John Smith, Sailor, Tells A.S.U.
Of Corruption Within Union,
Cut in Wages
POOR SHIP CONDITIONS
Common Room, December 7.�John
Smith, a seaman on strike, explained
to members of the A. S. U. why "the
farmers are at sea and the sailors arc
on shore." A corrupt and sluggish
union, intolerable living conditions
aboard ship, cut wages, poor food and
deprivation of the right to organize,
the placing of sailors through their
own "hiring halls" are the immediate
causes, he said.
Basically, however, the present
crisis is the climax of past attempts
to organize effectively. The Interna-
tional Seamen's Union has the same
president today that it had when it
started in 1896. The battles of the
men were never fought; instead, tem-
DR. SALMONY TO SPEAK
ON ART OF SIBERIA
Sunday, December 13, IV- Alfred
Salmony will lecture in the Deanery
at 5 o'clock on The Ancient Art of
Siberia and Its Influence on Chinese
and European Art. Dr. Salmony was
Director of the Museum of Far East-
ern Art in Cologne and is now Vis-
iting Lecturer in Oriental Art at Mills
College, California. He has traveled
extensively in the Far East and is
one of the few people who know the
museums of Siberia from having seen
them.
Dr. Salmony's lecture will devote it-
self in part to the "animal style,"
which in ancient times dominated the
art of China, Northern Europe and
Central Siberia. Siberian art is far
more important than it sounds be-
cause, owing to Siberia's central posi-
tion, it probably influenced China on
the one side and the Balkans and
Western Europe on the other side.
Geographically, too, Siberia was
ideally suited for contact with other
countries. Its people could move in
the wide belt of prairies, and for this
'Holiday' is Played
With New Feeling
In Leading Role
Critic Praises L. Cr6sby Lewis'
Spontaneous Interpretation
Of Ned Seton
NURSERY SCENE MOST
IMPRESSIVE OF SETS
porary payments duped the members
into reconciliation. Today this union i reason their cultural relations grew
DR. POWELL TO TALK
ON LEGAL PROBLEM
Under the auspices of the Depart-
ment of Economics and Politics, Dr.
Thomas Reed Powell is to give a lec-
ture on The Constitutional Problems
of Roosevelt's Second Term. The lec-
ture will be on Wednesday, December
16, at 2 p. m., in Room F, Taylor
Hall. Faculty and students who are
free at 2 o'clock are invited to attend.
The lecture is also open to the public.
Dr. Powell was formerly Ruggles
Professor of Constitutional Law at
Columbia University. Since 1925 he
has been on the faculty of the Har-
vard Law School, where he is Lang-
dell Professor of Law. He is the au-
thor of The Separation of Powers, In-
direct Encroachment on Federal Au-
thority by the Taxing Power of the
States and The Supreme Court and
State Police Force. In addition, he
has contributed numerous articles to
political science, legal and other
periodicals.
Mr. Woolman Uses Movies to Describe
Horseshoe Trail for Riding and Hiking
Common Room, December 7.�Stu-
dents and faculty interested in hiking
and riding heard Mr. Henry Wool-
man speak on the Horseshoe Trail and
saw colored movies to illustrate the
speech. The trail, which extends
from Valley Forge to Manada Gap,
was founded by Mr. Woolman and his
friends, and is, as its name indicates,
primarily designed for riding. It is
equally well suited to hiking and
Youth hostels along the way offer
shelter for over night.
Mr. Woolman first thought of build-
ing a trail near Philadelphia when he
saw part of the Appalachian Trail in
the Great Smoky Mountains some
years ago. He thought of joining up
some of the old wood-roads around
Valley Forge to make a long bridle-
path from there to the mountains.
When Mr. Woolman heard of the
Youth Hostels, started in this country
by Mr. and Mrs. Monroe Smith, he in-
vited them to inspect the trail. The
Smiths agreed to let him start a chain
of hostels along the Horseshoe Trail.
There are now five of these, one about
every Vf miles, starting at Valley
Forge from Mr. Woolman's lovely
farm, "Cressbrook." The committee
is anxious to found more hostels so
that they will be closer together and
better suited to hiking.
Until after the first of the year, it
will not be necessary to have a Youth
Hostel pass to stay in these hostels.
The Bryn Mawr Outing Club may ob-
tain a group pass for five dollars to be
used by different groups of 15 people.
A single pass for anyone under 25
costs one dollar a year, and will ad-
mit her to any hostel in this country.
Besides the pass, hostelers should take
a sleeping sack of sheeting and a mess
kit. Blankets and heavy cooking uten-
sils are provided at each hostel. It
is well to telephone or write ahead to
the hostel-parents, especially if food
is desired.
The trail is well marked with yel-
low horseshoes nailed or painted on
trees. Turns in the trail are marked
by two yellow dots or two horseshoes.
The Youth Hostel sign is a triangle,
with the letters A. Y. H. Anyone de-
siring more information on the trail
can obtain it from A. J. Clark, Pem-
broke East, or from her hall represen-
tative on the Outing Club Committee.
and younger organizations are being
revamped. Money matters, as well as
prodigious salaries of officials, are
being investigated under court orders.
For the first time regular elections are
being held.
The first strike occurred on the Pa-
cific coast in 1921 with the specific
purpose of breaking the union. It
was quelled, but the 1. S. U. was virtu-
ally without members and the seamen
had no union until 1929, when their
wages had dropped fifty per cent.
Then a handful of mariners initi-
ated the Mariners' Industrial League
to guide the unorganized men. Al-
though it started with no funds or
systematized publicity, workers auto-
matically hailed it as a means of
stabilizing their working conditions.
The biggest marine strike in his-
tory was called in 1934 on the Pacific
coast. The President revoked prom-
ises of arbitration which he had ten-
dered in return for a month's delay
on the strike. Meanwhile, terroriza-
tion of the strikers reached demoraliz-
ing proportions. Over 4000 armed
troops were called out. Ship owners
would treat with no representatives
but members of the dormant I. S. U.,
which had not even participated in the
strike and which had to call off a 1921
strike before it could declare one for
1934. Some conciliations were made,
however, and new members cleaned
out the "phonies" in the I. S. U.
These simply migrated to the Atlantic
coast and are now being ousted.
The present strike in the East is in
support of that started in the West
last spring. Unorganized and de-
spairing of a fair deal, the first crew
that struck instructed their leader "to
call Ma Perkins from a butcher shop.
They didn't even have enough money
to hire a hall. She told them to bring
the ship back to New York, that she
would look out for them. They did,
but sixty-nine men were blacklisted,
deprived of a means of livelihood."
The spring strike was the result.
Mr. Smith said that the big com-
panies which are fighting the strikers
Continued on Page Six
to be broader than anywhere else in
the world.
Chairman of Self-Gov
Discusses New
Rules
System of No Special Permission
Inadvisable at Present
MISS ROBBINS' TALK
IS ON ROYAL CRISIS
At the International Relations Club
meeting on December 8 in the Common
Room the Foreign Policy Association
meeting which is to be this Saturday
in Philadelphia was discussed. Mr.
Wells said that he thought the
speeches would be particularly inter-
esting and urged as many as possible
from college -to attend. It was decided
that a delegation of from six to
twelve students would go to the meet-
ing.
A meeting of the club for next
Monday evening at 7.30 in the Com-
mon Room was announced. Miss
Robbins will address the group on the
crisis in England, from the point of
view of the constitutional issues in-
volved. After the speech there will
be a debate.
Mrs. Manning has invited a speaker
for the first week after Christmas.
To the Editor of the College News:
The revision of the Self-Govern-
ment rules, which are published bit-
low this letter, includes several im-
portant changes. They deal especially
with the rules for leaving the campus
after dark, permission for movies in
Philadelphia, smoking in front of Tay-
lor and radios. The rules which are
unchanged have been rewritten in a
more clear and concise form.
Nearly all of us would like to work
out some system in which no special
permission would be necessary, but
the majority of the Executive and Ad-
visory Boards feel that this cannot
be done right now. The student body
as a whole is too ignorant of what
the rules actually are. They depend
entirely upon those who give special
permission and do not take enough
responsibility upon themselves.
I dfcnot think that the students arc-
entirely to blame for this. They have
been confused by the vagueness of the
rules and the failure of those of us
who give special permission always to
agree.
In closing, I would like to add thai
the purpose of these rules, which arc
made by the students themselves, is
to protect the individual student as
well as the college as a whole. Living
in a community such as this, wc have
to consider our relations with each
other as well as with outsiders.
Therefore, the rules have to be gen-
eral and cannot take in every case
which may arise. Any time that
a student wishes to do anything which
Continued on Page Five
CHRISTMAS KRIPPENSPIEL
The German Christmas play to be
given in the Deanery on next Tues-
day evening will be a Krippenspiel,
in which folk songs and spoken lines
have been woven together to form a
story. Mrs. Wells, of the Department
of German; Erika Simon, graduate
student, and M. Lee Powell, '37, presi-
dent of the German Club, are direct-
ing the play.
The cast of characters is as follows:
Mary............Ruth Lilienthal, '40
Joseph.......Ruth Mary Penfield, '40
Shepherds, Wise men and chorus of
Angels�I. Hinck, '40; D. Voigt,
'40; E. Dana, '39; D. Grant, '37;
O. Taylor, '38; E. Matteson, '40; J.
Gregory, '40; A. J. Clark, '39; N.
Beck, '40.
Senior Quizzes
Seniors should reserve Satur-
day, January 16, for quizzes in
first and second year work, since
many are scheduled for that
day.
Barry's Holiday, as presented by
The Players' Club of Bryn Mawr Col-
lege and The Cap and Bells Club of
Haverford College, was probably
quite different in feeling from the
original production in which Hope
Williams, boyish and brisk, took the
part of Linda. As interpreted by
Isabelle Seltzer, this central character,
upon whom rests the dramatic inter-
est of the entire play, was essentially
feminine in voice, gesture and per-
sonality. It was felt that her un-
happy, rebellious state of mind, so
sharply contrasted with the polished
assurance of her manners, came from
a sense of loneliness rather than a
' realization of the uselessness and stu-
pidity of the life that she led. As
the play ends she triumphs, not in
escaping from Park Avenue, but in
I following Johnny with the firm re-
solve to marry him. Although it is
I improbable that this was Philip Bar-
ry's conception of the role when he
dedicated his play to Hope Williams,
it is a perfectly reasonable interpre-
tation of the part and far more inter-
esting than a mere pastiche of the
original characterization would have
been.
As it is practically devoid of action
or of any logical sequence of events,
the play tended to drag in certain
scenes, most noticeably during the
lengthy dialogue of the last act. But
the development of Linda's attitude
towards life gave a certain unity and
feeling of progress to the whole.
Shifting from mood to mood, Linda
changed from a bored and embittered
society girl to a vigorous and hopeful
woman in love. There was a convinc-
ing and natural sense of growth in
Continued on Page Four
Revised Point System
Includes New Offices
Non - Existent Posts Eliminated,
Choir Mistress Added
The Point System, which limits and
regulates the number of positions a
student may hold at one time, has been
revised and clarified. Certain offices,
such as the Choir Mistress, have been
added, now non xistant positions
have been eliminated, and the allot-
ment of points has been somewhat
changed. The rule that no student
shall have more than 40 points at one
time will be strictly enforced. The
new Point System, which has been
passed by the Legislature, will go in-
to effect immediately.
Self-Government Association: SO
points: president; 15 points: first
Junior member; 10 points: vice-presi-
dent, members of Executive Board,
hall presidents; 8 points: secretary,
treasurer.
Bryn Mawr League: SO: president;
15: chairman of: Community Center,
Blind School, Maids, Bates House,
Summer School, Sunday Chapel 10:
secretary-treasurer; 8: chairman:
Maids' Sunday School; 5: Members of
standing committees, chairman of
Publicity.
Athletic Association: SO: president;
15: vice-president, all varsity sports
managers, treasurer; 10: secretary;
8: Sophomore member; 5: varsity cap-
tains of major sports; S: varsity cap-
tains of minor sports.
Undergraduate Association: SO:
Continued �n Page Five
No Current Events
There will be no Current
Events lecture on Tuesday. De-
cember 15. Mr. Miller's lecture
on The New Russian Constitu-
tion will be given after the
Christmas vacation.
"A